Hilliard relents, will sign Big Darby accord

After months of wrangling with Columbus over development of the Big Darby watershed, Hilliard is expected to sign an agreement that would encourage future cooperation.

After months of wrangling with Columbus over development of the Big Darby watershed, Hilliard is expected to sign an agreement that would encourage future cooperation.

The Hilliard City Council likely will approve the Big Darby Accord Master Plan tonight, ending more than a year's stalemate.

Columbus had threatened to withhold water and sewer service to any Hilliard development in the Darby area if the city didn't sign the accord, a framework for development that emphasizes environmental protection and responsible growth.

Hilliard said it was entitled to preserve home rule.

"The issues we raised were right," said Brett Sciotto, Hilliard City Council president. "It was worth fighting for."

Although Hilliard had been considered antagonistic toward Columbus, he said, the city might now be viewed as a leader.

"It is more useful to be at the table working together than to be on the outside saying that things aren't working at all."

Sciotto said Columbus' change from a concrete to a nonbinding agreement made it attractive.

In a letter to Hilliard officials this month, Tatyana Arsh, Columbus' director of public utilities, calls the master plan a "policy framework, not law."

"As long as we're not obligated to agree, we'll remain at the table," Sciotto said.

One of the major unanswered issues involves impact fees paid by developers to mitigate the effects of development on the environment, traffic and schools.

It is unclear who would control that pot of money and what it would be used for, Sciotto said.

A proposed 5,000-home development, in Prairie and Brown townships, could bring 10,000 students into the already crowded Hilliard and South-Western school systems.

Columbus would extend water and sewer service but wouldn't annex the property, so the Hilliard schools would absorb the children, said David Meeks, Hilliard's economic development director. If Columbus annexed the land, it would be in the Columbus school district.

Harrisburg, Grove City and Norwich Township -- relatively minor players in the watershed -- have yet to sign the accord. Hilliard will become the seventh municipality to sign on.

Some township administrators said they are concerned about restrictions in the plan that would stop current owners from selling their land to developers.

"It's a huge philosophical issue," said Norwich Township trustee Mike Cope, "taking away property owners' rights to develop as they see fit. These people thought for years that they'd be able to develop their property… their nest egg."

Because Norwich Township's fire department serves Hilliard and Brown Township, township leaders are worried that growth there will stretch their forces.

"We could be asked to take on quite a bit of work with not enough revenue to make it work," said Wayne Warner, township administrator.

Even by signing, the accord likely won't be a panacea for future development concerns, Sciotto said.

"There is no way you can take 10 or more governments and write the perfect plan in how they deal with development situations."

dnarciso@dispatch.com

"It is more useful to be at the table working together than to be on the outside."

Brett Sciotto Hilliard council president

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